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Wealthy Democrats are preparing a four-month, $40 million media campaign centered on attacks on Senator John McCain.
AP Photo

The ad features President Bush's head cut and pasted onto McCain's shoulders, as a narrator intones that their policies on a range of issues are "McSame."

"We need a new direction, not the McSame old thing," the narrator concludes.

"It tested off-the-charts well," said Brock, referring to his group's research into viewers' reactions to the ad.

Brock's words, and his unpaid chairmanship, reflect alarm that Democrats are missing an opportunity to define McCain, even as the presumptive nominee tours the country telling his own story. The plan, conceived last fall, had been for the Fund for America to raise $100 million from wealthy Democrats, and to transfer it to groups including the Campaign to Defend America and America Votes, a Soros-backed independent group aimed at strengthening Democrats' field organizing.

But Fund for America has been unable to raise the money, and Campaign to Defend America had agreed not to raise its own money. Last Thursday, Brock said, he informed an official of the fund that his group would begin directly raising its own funds, a move that puts the usefulness of the Fund for America in question.

"We are as committed at Progressive Media USA to having the money we need to fully execute our mission as we are to seeing to it that America Votes has the money to execute its mission," he said, a formulation that appeared pointedly to exclude the Fund for America, which had been established as a kind of parent organization.

Brock added that he was open to continue to raise money jointly with the Fund for America — if the distribution is "equitable."

The organizational shakeup also reflects a move away from MoveOn.org, the influential activist group that relies on money from small donors, and back toward the Democratic establishment. Brock's arrival means that Tom Matzzie, a former MoveOn staffer who remains the secretary of Progressive Media USA, is no longer the group's most visible official. A founder of MoveOn, Wes Boyd, also left the group's board, and a former chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Susan McCue, joined as the group's treasurer.

Brock said that with the help of a new legal team, the group had solved a key question connected to its financing. Incorporated as a 501(c)4 nonprofit, the group has the advantage of not being required to disclose its donors. But it is barred by law from taking money from unions, a major source of funds for progressive causes. Brock said he was creating a linked 527 group, Progressive Media Action, which would accept — and disclose — union and other funds.

Though donors and operatives say they expect the group's highest profile work to be attacks against McCain, the new Democratic groups were conceived to build an infrastructure lasting beyond this election, and Brock — whose Media Matters is on the vanguard of the well-funded new liberal establishment — said Progressive Media USA would live beyond this year's election.

Brock said Los Angeles real estate magnate Steve Bing was among a group of donors backing his group's long-term mission — despite many Democrats' expectations that Bing and other Clinton supporters would only contribute if Clinton is the nominee. Soros, the group's key backer, supports Obama, and hosted a key, early gathering of the senator's wealthy New York supporters.

Brock said the group would be a ready-made vehicle to conduct media campaigns backing liberal causes on short notice, an analog to the partisan conservative message machine, giving liberals "the ability to create a real echo chamber."

He recalled that in 2004, his fledgling group had debunked "90 percent" of the content of an advertisement Swift Boat Veterans' for Truth that challenged Sen. John Kerry's war record — but had no way to distribute the information.

"Progressive Media USA will be a permanent part of progressive media infrastructure," he said.

But while the group's long-term goals may be broader, Brock says his commitment to the group is on a different timetable.

The Republican Party is ready for the hype that will come from questionable people like Soros, Brock and Begala. Soros isn't for America, he is for some Open Society that relativizes the value and contributions of the United States, and also tries to bully the US into taking positions Soros wants. Brock has lots of enemies in the world of publishing. Begala, well, he's just an ass!

McCain is bigger, better, and stronger than these yellow journalists and questionable financiers. Fire will meet fire.

The Media Matters group has quite a few Progressives on it who dumped Clinton when she didn't dance 100% to Soros' tune. They switched en masse to Obama some time around the New Hampshire primary. Principal people at Media Matters are also on boards of the Sierra Club and try to corner environment issues...mostly, these people are from Manhattan. There are quite a few organizations these w e e n i e s are on. These Progressives on the boards of organizations also organized the 'New Progressives'. Look up the Democratic Courage website for some principal players.

I have to run. Maybe I can link a few people from the Brock and Soros group later in the day.

John McCain has only one problem in this 2008 POTUS campaign. That problem is that he is John McCain. McCain's national head to head vs Obama poll numbers have peaked as his support will never be higher than it was two weeks ago. When compared to Obama, McCain will end up looking like the old and rapidly aging white man who cannot speak without getting facts and names correct.

It's really amazing how all these people with direct ties to Clinton can purport themselves to be independent groups. The problem is even if they get caught they only have to pay a fine 3-4 years dwon the road. Obama has stonewalled an FEC appointment so there's basically no oversight of this election.No one is surprised that these Dem sub groups are going to attack McCain but this could backfire if it causes the GOP base to rally behind him. I've been watching McCain's positions lately and he's getting much better on them. He's listening to the base.Whoever the dem candidate is they're going to have to face McCain on stage in the debates.He'll represent stability in tough times where the dems will come off as cock eyed schemers. Obama will be easy fodder for attacks himself.Rev. Wright isn't going away and he was a muslim at one time.His views at his church were the same thing that Louis Farracon prothlitized for years and years.There's a lot of people that already suspicious of Obama,his lack of patriotism and the belief sysstem of this outrageous church. Wanting to negeoiate with terrorist countries might be a big hit with the lib base but it'll be rejected by the country at large...As the primary winds down,the Clintons will get nastier and nastier and have a coup to get the nomination.The Dems won't have enough time to recooperate and will start planning for 2012 and getting 60 votes in the senate.

So we like lying liars and the lies they tell against McCain because old Straight Talk will expose them. This will also serve to galvanize Conservatives because Soros, Move-on, Brock, Media Matters and Begala are anathema to the right.

When compared to Obama, McCain will end up looking like the old and rapidly aging white man who cannot speak without getting facts and names correct.

Yes, and it will get worse. McCain's early dementia and PTSD will become increasingly apparent the more he speaks. His ponderous war obsessed speeches are absolutely pathetic compared to Obama's masterful and inspiring ones. How can any thinking person believe that McCain, who is steeped in the past, have the answers for the future?

I'm not saying the Media Matters crew are liars, mind you. The reason people like O'Reilly are terrified of them and constantly attack them with distorted logic and fallacies, is because they tell the truth, and the truth about the right-wing media isn't pretty.

Anyway, this new group is only fair play. We all know the GOP will be running its entire campaign on negative attacks, since their candidate is a senile Bush wannabe who can't even get the names of our enemies straight and freely admits he knows nothing about the economy. They're going to want to divert attention away from Grandpa Simpson as much as possible.

So since we're in for a negative campaign from the right, it's only fair that the left should be able to punch back.

Media Matters was founded by the Clintons. It is run by John Podesta who was/is a Clinton Operator. It is funded with millions, perhaps billions of dollars, each year by Non American Born, Dual Citizen, Hedge fund Manager, Russian Native Jewish Person with Hard Left Ties. It is a left wing smear machine. It is how left wing radical aims are "laundered' and then reprinted in The New York Times, On Politico ...sometimes, In the Boston Globe, in the Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, the Keith Obermann Show on MSNBC-----in the Main Stream Media as "News". Often it is Unsourced. An "inside source". The Lobbyists and campaign managers who must stay awake to get the first posts on this site have a opinion of your I.Q. Which is...it is low. Very low. McCain's campaign is eaten up with lobbyists. Infested with them. So is Hillary. So is Obama. The approval rating for the Senate is 11% and that is on a GOOD day. So all three are Senators. All THREE are identical in pushing amnesty for illegal aliens in the USA, those crossing today, tomorrow and they all three want a HUGE guest worker program. They assume you are so stupid you don't know we currently have TEN GUEST workers programs, but even that is not enough to feed the insatible appetite of our "USA Chamber of Commerce" for Cheap foreign labor. And no danger of unions. AND NO PAYING THOSE PESKY INCOME TAXES OR SOCIAL SECURITY TAXES OR MEDICARE TAXES.. You little people would be amazed at how much money you can make if you can just pay your work force under the table!!!!!!! INCOME TAX HEAVEN. Then you can stash it in the Cayman Islands....and go on TV an moan about the "poor immigrant" being tortured by Sheriff Joe (New York Time's latest bust the Middle Class Rant..private family owns it..Jewish..richer than God...still addicted to that cheap foreign labor) ALL THE DEMOCRATS HAVE TO DO TO DEFEAT MCCAIN IS LET MCCAIN BE MCCAIN. I HEARD HIM ON HANNITY YESTERDAY. HE APPARENTLY OWNS THAT SHOW NOW. IT SHOULD BE THE MCCAIN/HANNITY THREE HOUR RANT. A video of McCain screaming that Republicans who oppose his amnesty bill ( and he is putting a different shade of lipstick on it but he still harbors it near his corporate loving heart) are bigots and racists. McCain walking around...freely in Baghdad with handlers Lindsey and Joe....Baghdad is FREE. Not quite. Then we saw the Apache's overhead. The thousands of troops guarding his precious butt. They only have to show the AMerican people that McCain is another Democrat............who loves the War in Iraq. Who is lusting to go into Iran. Who has a plan to set up an International War Center..USA leading.to fight in places where no one else will....DArfur. Sudan. Bosnia. NONE of them should be President. NONE of them.

John McCain will end up to be his own worst enemy with his 100 years of occupation in Iraq comment. The video and audio of that remark will be replayed at least one million times in anti-McCain ads between now and the November election. In an environment where over 80% of Americans see this country going down the WRONG PATH, McCain's own words will be his demise. Just look how hard FoxFakeNews is spinning the 100 years of occupation comment. Conservatives are running more scared today than I have seen since the 1976 election cycle. I love it when conservatives run scared because they always lose their cool and their minds.

Never trust Republicans, especially those like McCain who are irrational, angry, and simplistic, with a worldly view that is frankly, on par with the views of some rural hick who is a parasite on the body politic of America. McCain should be attacked by 527 veterans groups and anyone else interested in freeing America from the yoke of nationalists, the equivalent of the German nationalists led by Hitler.

Here's a novel idea. Why don't those ass-clowns use the 40 million to explain, in detail why anyone should vote for either Obama or worse yet Clinton (I don't think they can make a coherent case for either, but that should come as no surprise to anyone as substance is the last thing to be expected in this race)...

As in independent, I am sick to death of both parties and their attack dog donors, and by extension the holier than thou pronunciations. They represent neither a majority of the electorate, nor do they add any value to the dialog. They are simply some rich ass hole's wet dream.

This system is so far broken that we need nothing short of a real revolution to purge DC of the currently sitting elected aristocracy, and we need all of these folks with tons of money and nothing to do all day to stay the hell out of the process.

Under the leadership of the Republican SCOTUS, lying is protected under the freedom of speech. What nationalist Republicans hate about Brock is that he exposed their campaign of lies paid for by Richard Mellon Scaife in his expose/confessional book, Blinded by the Right. He exposed the fact that Arkansas state troopers received money from the Republican power elite to lie against Clinton. Let's hope the Democrats can put the Prussian dagger to McCain. Democrats need to give Republicans a taste of their own medicine. Hopefully if a Democrat becomes president the IRS and DOJ can be directed against the Republican party and major Republican supporters.